Cook told the Washington Post that after taking over the reins on the company in 2011 he was caught off guard by just how much scrutiny of his leaderships would come from not only investors, but the media, and customers. Here’s how he learned to deal with it:

You’re both praised and criticized, and the extremes are wide — very wide. And that can happen all in a day. You build up — my skin got materially thicker after August 2011. And I don’t mean in a bad way. I don’t mean that I’m callous and don’t care. I think I’m a bit better today about compartmentalizing things and not taking everything so personally. That was just downright shocking to me, honestly. I thought the visibility went with Steve, not the company. And so I thought with a different CEO, with me, that would instantly change. It didn’t.